Monday, December 15, 2008

Friday, December 12, 2008

Let’s face it internet peeps. I haven’t been writing about Arms or Fury lately and it is time for a change. Also, it looks more and more likely that I will be playing my dwarf in the spare time as none of my peeps are all the interested in seeing Alliance side again.

I read a lot of blogs. Even more than I have linked in my blogroll and have come to like several different styles. As I get used to blogging dailyish, I find myself wanting to do different types of blogging and think I will try them out. I very much like Team Ratshag style and would love to try my hand at blogging from a specific toons point of view. In all regards, writing as a toon will probably convince me to write those 2 short stories that my lovely wife encourages me to do.

Another thing I would like to do is talk about the different classes I play a la Out of Mana. Currently, I have a 43 Mage, 56 Shammy, 71 Boomkin, 34 Hunter, 30 Pally and I still haven’t done the Death Knight starting zones. I would like a chance to talk about all of those toons and different classes.

So blogging under the banner of ArmsandFury is starting to stifle and it is time for a change. To add to my new endeavor, I have enlisted the help of some friends/family. Namely, I will have contributions from my wife, Sugars and Dodger to start. I would love to get some Dammerung in it but he is quite the busy atm and I haven’t seen him online to ask/nag him about it.

The name’s the rub. I settled on Kelmar’s Blog. I chose it for 2 reasons. 1) I will be the primary writer on it and 2) It is not WoW centric which is an idea Tobold gave to one of his readers. If I quit playing WoW or wish to talk about non wow related stuff (i.e. weighlifting, anime, books, movies… trying to get my wife into something skimpy) than the title has not misrepresented the contents in anyway.

I will be working on setting it up this weekend. Sunday will see a post with my new link to Kelmar’s Blog. Hope to see you all there. Also, if you have any suggestions for content, I am more than willing to try them out.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

So as the banner on the blog shows, I have two warriors I run. Herk most assuredly got the more love in Burning Crusade. For Wrath, I plan on playing them equally. I am busy leveling Kelmar/Brewhammer now. I need to change Kel’s name but haven’t done so because I accidentally used my placeholder “Brewhammer” dwarf for a bank alt. I’ll get around to it. So I am running Kelmar as prot right now because it is the easiest way to get an instance group. The Arms and Fury will come more into play as I get him to 80. I will then have Herk and Brewhammer running BGs for Arms and Fury fun talk. When dual spec hits, I will have tons of stuff to blog about.

I know what’s coming. “You leveled Herk as prot! Give us your name sake back!” Well, I can’t just yet. See, my wife has decided to play her priest with me. We will be tag teaming the instances somewhat sooooo prot just makes more sense right now.

Speaking of her priest, I ran her some last night taking a look at her spells and what not. Now, her poor toon was even less gear than Kelmar. How bad? To the name of about 540 spell power at lv 70. The nice thing is the gear reset! Say what you want but wanting to play a toon and being able to pick them back up after a hiatus is all win in my book. Hipnatizd will take a bit of work but she can be just as geared as any when she hits 80. The wife’s plan is to level Holy which I already trounced for a weekend so I can get her caught up to Kelmar. Kelmar is within 200k of 72. I have to get Hipper to at least 71 and some gear and then we are good to go from there.

She still loves her hunter though. I am not sure why she is playing with me on Drenden. Perhaps she didn’t think I would play him this soon? I have Herk where I want him for prot gear because I don’t plan on playing him until my friends are ready to run instances for gear. I am content to let Herk lounge around doing Hodir rep while they level to 80 because I a have Kelmar to play. However, if my wife is playing her priest solely to not be left behind my leveling butt, then I need to not play Kelmar right now. Decisions decisions… maybe we will see her comment and tell me what she wants to do!

Now that I have rambled enough, to the point of the title! I ran Hipnatizd at 69 through Utgarde Keep. Party was… 69 Holy Priest (Moi), Arms 2 1h warrior, Unholy DK, Blood BK and a rogue. Sweet monkeys!!!! We wiped 4 times on first boss because they would not help my little butt with the skellies (they killed me) and the ice blocl ( it killed me)… it was a MESS. My greater heals were hitting for 4500 and critting for 7k. My healing was there… group dynamic WASN’T… again. As my son used to say when he first started talking… MELP MEH.

A couple of requests for my email have been heard. I will update the site with it. For now, it is ArmsandFury - @ - gmail.com.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Then there's the threat issue. My favorite tank blogger has gone from "you can't pull aggro offa me if you try!" to "well, they just have to be more careful with threat..." and "you know, you generate a lot of threat asa healer!" – Renoobed

Did he just try and make me sound like a Melvin where tanking is concerned? Specifically this crap statement "you know, you generate a lot of threat asa healer!” Lets talk about this internet.

Ya, none of that is accurate. I have never said you can't pull aggro off me if you tried. What I did say is I generate a lot of threat. Specifically, I can generate between 3k to 3500 on a single target now. BRK could always pull aggro off me in nagrand in blues but then again that is BRK. I ran with a ret Pally on Brewhammer last night and we did Nexus. He grabbed EVERY single bit of aggro off any add we had because he kept using his AoE first thing instead of letting me lay some Shockwave and Thunderclaps down.

Parties DO need to be more careful with threat in Heroics. Heroics are NOT the AoE fest of latter day Burning Crusade. Time to learn to play your DPS class again you DPSers you. Listen, sometimes you can CC and sometimes you can not. If you can’t CC and it’s a Heroic and you and your party are at gear level or slightly under or above, you are to DPS the tank’s target and switch to HIS next target. Period. If you want to lay down some AoE or start tacking 2-3 mobs with your AoE damage spells, you had best wait for some sunders on said extra mobs. Thunderclap and Shockwave are good but they will not stand up to random execute crits as the better threat generator.

Side note for warriors: If you have a group like this, it is time to start doing the old tab, threat build, tab, threat build, tab, threat build rotation. It helps.

What I said about your healing threat was that it JUMPED exponentially from other healers I had seen, notably priest and druids. To which you said you had skipped the aggro reducing talents in favor of more healing talents. Right, because Blizz makes it where you have to choose between better healing or aggro reducers. However, I'll let that slide because I know crap about Shaman healing but I suspect there is some fat in your Healing spec that could be trimmed for aggro reducers. Not that it really matters because I don’t run with your EPeening crazy heals ZOMGBBQSAUCE leetness much.

So here's what I had folks on the above Heroic Azjol Nerub run with Noobed. A mage who was really decent on the DPS, a deathknight who wasn’t above 900kdps and a lock who I was doing more DPS than. We wiped on the first chain pull about 5 times. One of those things would always get loose and smack someone while I was webbed. I would type WEBBED and no one would hit me. Also, they do have a stunlock that is web based that makes you run around like a moron. There were two main problems. First, kill order. The other 2 DPSers decided to kill what the felt like or would stat on Skull and then pop AoE talents. Second was DPS vs my gear. I am at entry level Heroic tanking gear. Nothing great really.

24.5 health unbuffed23k armor542 def19.67 Dodge15 Parry

I do NOT overgear Heroics which means I can not take up the slack of crap DPS or bad healing. The healing was not bad at all cept for the threat generation he was getting. When your first heal hits 1700 TPS on my omen, there is a problem. I can pull 3500 TPS on a single target and am not too sure what gets pulled on the add targets with TC, Glyph sunder and Shockwave. I am going to set Omen to show me 4 targets tonight and see what that looks like.

I am really going to quit running things with Noobed for two reasons. 1) He outgears me and needs to run with his own crowd and 2) I just don’t like playing the game with him anymore. If I make a mistake or don’t perform the way his “non tanking class ever played” thinks I should have he turns into kind of an ass. I know he is going to be an ass and it gets me jittery and I yell if I make a mistake. This upsets my son and my wife because they don’t like it when I get loud. So no more with Noobed other than in game conversations… he is taking the fun out of my game. So this will be the last post for any Arms vs Noobed; It's just getting old and not worth my time.

Friday, December 5, 2008

The “too funny” of the night was when I was in LFG and spy a mage and ask him if he is above 1500DPS. The response? “Do you mean spellpower?”

I did Halls last night with a good DPS group. Noobed healed on his shammy. Good heals. My tanking was a bit jittery starting off. It didn’t help that the group decided to never burn down my main target until the very end of the instance. I had only done the instance one time before and got into some LOS issues that I am sure aggravated the healer and hunter.

The main problem I had, the group would NOT let me pull anything back. They always fought on top of me where I charged. We managed to get one pushy rogue who my wife warned me about when she saw his name. “That run isn’t going to be fun” she warned. She was right. Sigh.

His great moment was aggroing the first boss after we all had pulled back away from him. I pull back and check Noobed’s mana which is at 5k or less if memory serves and I see the rogue /throw a dagger at the boss. After that it was all rage. I don’t play well when I am mad. I’d rather spend 3 hours in a Heroic than 1 ½ with a smeghead.

We wiped 2 ½ times on the first boss. One due to no one pulling out of hit patrol area… this one included me. I was paying attention to the hunter who kept attacking HIS own FLIPPING target and pulling aggro over to the healer. I really hated that hunter. Anyways, boss walks right into us and BLAM. Sigh

Second wipe was with us pulling the boss and the DPS not killing the adds >.< Now, MrOMGIMSOUBER rogue, who came in waaay second from on outrageously middling gear DeathKnight who brought the pain and made me want to actually play the class, says he was on an add. As far as I could see no damage had been done to one. Claimed I wasn’t tanking >.< I hate that.

The half wipe came when the rogue threw his dagger at the boss with Noobed at the 5k mana. I picked him and the adds up and after a bit say the boss was at ½ or so health with adds gone and the rogue LONG dead. We just didn’t have the heals much and I bit it. The DK takes over and Noobed finds some mana or regens some and starts healing him. I release and run back in time to see Noobed die the DK die and to charge into the boss to keep him from the hunter with about 10-15k health left. Down he went. It was interesting to say the least.

A little bit later, I went to clear Drak’Tharon with the group from The Nexus cuz HEY an emblem is an emblem and I need 35 or 25 for my tanking neck. We get to the first boss and wipe and wipe and wipe again. They ask if I am uncrittable (again) I say YES I am. We try various tactics and I notice that the pally healers heal are Flash of Lights for 2500 reg and 4-5k crits. The boss is white hitting me for 5k. Well, this math don’t add up do it? Also, the shadow priest was below me in damage when we called it. I had roughly 900 DPS for the run and he was at 830. I may have to start turning down runs with them 

Thursday, December 4, 2008

So Herk got a group for the Heroic Daily of Utgaarde Keep. The following was the group make up… Boomkin, FRF Mage, Rogue, Resto Druid. We trounced that place. The fun thing is that with Heroic Throw and Charge, Warriors can now front load threat like a Pally tank. The Boomkin never even got close to taking aggro off of me. The mage tried to take his own targets away from me. Realizing it was the “Fold” doing it, I decided to show him he couldn’t no matter which target he chose. The story for this instance is really boring. We caked walked through all of it. No one died. I did nothing special to save the entire group because they didn’t need it.

Heroic Nexus on the other hand is a different story. They were 4 guildies who needed a tank. I had run several instances with this guild before and rarely every the same people twice. However, I have made a reputation with several guilds about being a really really good pug tank. Last night, I had to turn down 3 Heroic run offers because it was my wife’s turn to play. Still felt great to see the offers rolling in especially since they were from healers! Tanks, love your healers, take of your healer cuz the rest is filler sorta.

The guild had me log onto vent and because of a incident (my son ripped my mic plug in half) I am that guy who doesn’t have a mic. These guys are laughing and having a good time ribbing each other. They were pretty decent. Healer was a pally. Pally healers need some loving Blizz. Group make up was… S.priest, Holy Pally, Deathknight, Hunter and me. We went through the flower petals like nothing until I pull one tree guy back… and back and they party moves forward into the pat. Sigh. I charge get control of everyone and start pushing cooldown buttons to give the healer an extra moment.

An aside, Taurens are the best tanking race period. Why? Extra health? Somewhat. It comes from that whole extra AoE stun happiness called WARSTOMP. An extra second of not taking damage from 4 mobs in a heroic is HUGE when the smelly hits the fan.

You have to remember not hit all your O CRAP buttons at once too guys. If you pull 5 mobs to yourself in a Heroic then I suggest the following O CRAP sequence. Shield Wall, Wait for it go before hitting Block. Use Last Stand AFTER the block is up if you can as I think this gives the healer the most time to get up to speed. Now remember this the O CRAP sequence that is interspersed with the regular damage reduction sequence.

Thunderclap for aggro on all… back up and Shockwave em… Shield Wall… Demo Shout… Thunderclap, Shield Slam, Devastate, Revenge and what not but remember your main focus on the O CRAP is not DPS or trying to kill a target. It is damage mitigation and AOE threat. Also, after all the above, remember Concussive Blow for one, tab target to any caster for the a Shield Bash against their spells and if Heroic Throw is up then you Gag Order their ass again. You can chain stun casters without them getting a spell off. After all that? Warstomp their ass if you are a Tauren.

Tanking 5 oops pulled to many in a Heroic after they kill one of your party is awesomesauce in anyone’s book and will get you invited back. In this case, it got me a guild invitation for anytime I wanted.

I would love to say we finished the instance but we did not. We couldn’t get Anomylus down. There was too little DPS to drop the rifts fast enough. What was the DPS like you ask? I hesitate to say but according to recount… it was abysmal for a Heroic.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

So my son is a little older now and my wonderful wife tanked him quite a bit last night as I got all into Heroics. I was going to run a Heroic damn it all! I first get into a pug that was advertising for a “good” tank. Well, you know what? I am better than average thank you very much.

Heroic Halls of Stone here I come. /w the lead and give him the baseline 23k unbuffed, 542 def, 22k armor. Given a good healer these are ample stats to start Heroics. However, from what I hear for Halls of Lightning on Heroic I will need at least another 2k hp and some more armor. If I can start getting some socket gear with the same Def on it, I can start gemming block and parry and dodge and what not. I’ll start doing posts on that when I get to it.

Right now, I am gathering mats for the Titansteel Treads/Sabatons whatever the hell they are called. Anyways, I am getting some help with the Titansteel smelting from Noobed and am very appreciative. I should have the helm and boots made for Friday night and I already have the shield.

Goodness here we go with theorycraft. Mind you, this is for nub tanks with nub gear like mine. If you have cleared Sunwell, BT, Naxx and spanked Malygos already, this is NOT for you. This is for my own and all the other peoples insight. If you can offer a better opinion, please do.

How to get to the Def cap and gem for Stamina before gemming for miss rates… or why I like Blacksmithing.

If you are going for the Def 540 cap, you are going to need some enchants. Depending on your gear and professions, you will either need a lot of enchants to get 540 or you will need to gem for it or both. What you do not want to do is give up a gem slot when you can get an armor piece enchanted.

You can grab the following chants.

Greater Defense to Chest+ Defense to cap+ Defense to Shield

Use them. Save any and all sockets for +sta gems. There is absolutely no reason you should be running around with Greater stats to chest while you have a Def gem anywhere on you. Now, if you need the gem AND had the Def to chest then we understand.

Blacksmithing as a profession still helps tanks out the most. You thought every item is BoE now? It is. But not the socketing options. Blacksmiths at 400 and over can socket their own gloves and bracers. That’s a difference of roughly 500 HPs you can drop in there. Would you turn down an extra 50 sta on a tanking item? Thought not.

Chants for Def cap first and then use sockets if absolutely necessary to hit the Def cap. However, if I didn’t have to do it then you shouldn’t either. All of the gear when I hit Def cap was questing and a red letter run through CoT Culling. I picked up the tanking boots and cap out of there. I need to do a gear list for starting out and I will eventually get to it I promise.

Next post is about how the Heroics went. How we owned Utgarde and couldn’t quit drop Anomylus in Nex.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

So far I haven’t had too many of BBBs /facepalm moments. I had few here and there but nothing to write about really. This past Sunday, I tanked Utgarde Pinnacle on Herk along with this Pally (Traey from the guild Misery.) Yes, I am calling him out. Feel free to whisper bomb “U @$$hat” at him if you are on teh Hoof. I’ll tell the story of the instance and lead up to the complete asshatery by sharing the little stuff.

He kept leader and marked. I was ok with that because he had been there before and I hadn’t. The pulls were nothing to worry about really. He marked pats which I found odd but meh. It aggravated him that I charged mobs. Listen up, that was old school thought people. It is more than acceptable to charge into a mob for rage or to pull them back with a heroic throw and back up a step and then charge at the right moment.

I will often pull with Heroic Throw and start backing up past the party only to charge ahead of them and hit the mob with charge at the pull back position I wanted them. The rage I get is a happy thing as it provides the DPS with immediate GO GO GADGET DPS capability. Why? Because I have the rage to pull off thunderclap, Shield bash and then back up for the Shockwave.

I have been using the following sequence.

ChargeThunderclapShield Bash main targetBack upShockwaveDevastateDemo ShoutThunderclap (I do this again because I find with the DPS lately that everyone is going to AoE in some fashion)Shield BlockShield Bash, Devastate, Revenge or Heroic Strike as they pop up.

If anyone else uses Omen, the highest TPS I have been getting is around 4500 with the low being at 2700. I don’t lose threat. There is on person getting physically attacked and it is ME unless they have a random charge or shadowbolt spread.

Anyways, this ret pally is very partial to telling me how to tank but I let that slide. As long as the healer and I are jiving, I don’t give a crap about your DPS butt and what you think I should be doing. Did you get hit? No. Did anyone else get hit? No. Was there a wipe? No. Then STFU and DPS.

His other thing that annoyed me, whenever he had a chance to fear an undead he did and thought of it as CC. Even with 3-4 mobs on me the healer never lost more than 2k mana healing me unless it was a boss fight. Right before the gauntlet, he says he is calling dibs on the DPS plate pants that drop from Ymiron. I really had no desire for them and I am not sure about our pally healer. The fact remains that there were 3 plate wearers in the party who could use them. I chalk it up to him being a moron.

So we make it through the gauntlet when he starts running into mobs outta of the way and apologizing because he “wasn’t paying attention.” At on point, he ran into a room where we were sitting off to the side because he had to catch up and ran all the way into the room and mobs. I picked up all 7 and immediately started tapping cooldowns to give the healer some time to catch up to what we were about to get into. We didn’t wipe, no one died. Healer did have to drink after.

We get to the last boss and proceed to give King Ymiron a beatdown. At 10k health left I see Master Loot pop up. WTF?! We kill him. The pally loots and guess what? No plate pants for joo!!

I tell him that was a BS move and that I will never tank for him again. He asks what he did wrong? He was distributing loot fairly! Because YOUR pants did not drop! He says, “Well, I am tired of people rolling on their offset. “ Me, “You are a piece of trash.” The healer, “It was BS and I will never heal for you again.” The Pally, “ I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Yes, you did. You meant “I am more important than any of the rest of you whom without I would not have gotten here.”

Monday, December 1, 2008

Sorry, haven’t been blogging because a) I’ve been playing and b) it’s the holidays which means busy at home and work!

Herk is 80. Brewhammer is almost 71. There are differences in the story from Horde to Ally! I suggest playing them back to back so as not to forget the other’s storyline. Herk is sitting at 22.5k Health with 23k armor and 542 Def. He is running Heroics when he can find a healer on teh Hoof. Herk is also grinding Sons of Hodir rep for the shoulder chant.

Brewhammer is getting quest reward gear as fast as the sling it to him. Upgrading is fun! Also, I’m sorry to have forsaken the name of this blog with Herk’s leveling spec or prot but will be doing it again on Brewhammer. Prot spec is just so much damn fun and soloable. There are only a handful of elites that I can’t drop solo as prot spec.

Wish I had time to write more.

/wave

P.S. Incoming post about the complete ASSHAT I ran with through Utgarde Pinnacle and how he master looted with 10k health left on the last boss.